


An Inescapable Nightmare

by seqka711



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Multi, Murder, Murder-Suicide, Philosophical ruminations on the nature of the afterlife, Suicide, This is set in the best universe ever but there's still gonna be lots of despair, Ultimate Talent Development Plan (Dangan Ronpa), guaranteed, off screen rape, very (very) loosely inspired by Doki Doki Literature Club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-09 16:21:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13485270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seqka711/pseuds/seqka711
Summary: The night before his wedding day, Makoto Naegi is transported to another world with no death, no killing games and no despair. With the help of his not-wife, a bear he thought he hated and a mysterious student council, he will soon learn that this world isn’t just a fever dream.AU where post-DR3 Naegi is transported to the Ultimate Talent Development Plan AU and spends three years being very, very confused.





	1. Comfort and Horror

Kyoko Kirigiri was probably the most attractive woman on this earth, and Makoto realized this opinion may have been a touch biased. His father used to say that every man thought his wife was the most beautiful woman on earth, simply by the product of love. But Kyoko wasn’t his wife quite yet, and Makoto couldn’t help but think that perhaps love had very little to do with it, and that her attractiveness came entirely from herself. Her beauty had little to do with her physical features, but it was the way she acted, the way she spoke, the way she merely carried herself. It was all as if Goddesses came down and taught her the meaning of grace.  
  
“What are you thinking about, Makoto?” Kyoko tilts her head towards him, the exact angle where she could look him in the eyes with the least amount of movement. Makoto blinked, realizing he had been staring directly at her this whole time. Makoto was in nothing but plain briefs, whereas Kyoko had yet to undress at all, despite having been reading in their bedroom for a long while. Makoto gives an earnest smile, befitting his younger self in every conceivable way.  
  
“I was thinking about how beautiful you are, Kyoko.”  
  
“Of course.” Kyoko stifled a giggle behind her ungloved hands, clearly not believing him. Makoto made a slight pout at her lack of faith, before telling her,  
  
“I really was though. That’s exactly what I should be thinking about tonight anyway, right?”  
  
“I wouldn’t say that thoughts such as these are inappropriate for a night such as this, but wouldn’t it be wise to save thoughts of my beauty for our actual wedding day?” Her voice bearing both amusement and disbelief.  
  
Tomorrow, Kyoko Kirigiri would no longer be Kyoko Kirigiri, but Kyoko Naegi. The thought still seemed so strange. Especially since the only ones with permission to actually call her that are Asahina, Komaru and himself. To everyone else, she would still be Kirigiri, a distinction which spoke to the intricacy with which she relegated herself and her relationships. However, the most important thing about this change wasn’t the designation, but the union itself.  
  
It’s been two years since Hajime Hinata rescued the world from the Hope Brainwashing Video, and things have been looking up. The video didn’t fully play, so no one was raving for Hope the same way they did Despair all those years ago. What the video did do was make everyone a little more positive, a little more likely to see things in a hopeful light. The video deserved to be feared, but no one could deny that it may have helped the world’s reform a great deal.  
  
A year ago, he had founded the New Hope’s Peak Academy, and with seventy students, the school was well on its way. New Hope’s Peak was a little less selective than the old Hope’s Peak. No longer did your skill level have to be incredible to enter. Instead, if you were someone who worked hard on a talent besides just school, and could use the help of more resources and time to develop your craft, the school was there as a support tool.  
  
It was low budget. Far lower than the original Hope’s Peak, but he and Kyoko had tried to make it work. And not just work, but improve upon the original concept.  
  
Makoto was interrupted from his musings by an amused Kyoko.  
  
“Makoto? You aren’t still... admiring me are you? Surely you must have something else to think about?”  
  
“I was just thinking of all we’ve accomplished. Us. This world. Everything that happened, but we never gave up hope. And now we’re here. We've been through more than we deserve. But we’re here, and I love you.”  
  
Kyoko, to her credit, didn’t look even slightly abashed at the unforgivingly embarrassing words Makoto had said to her. She simply smiled, closed her book, and got ready for bed. It was only after she had settled in with him did she tell Naegi.  
  
“I love you too.”

  


\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Naegi woke up, it was the sunniest it had ever been since the Tragedy. With the air still thick with pollution, sun was rare, and sun as bright as this mornings even more so. As Naegi drifted back into unconsciousness, he started to think that even the sky wanted to celebrate his wedding.  
  
His wedding.  
  
His wedding!  
  
Makoto jumped out of bed, excited for what was supposed to be the greatest day of his life, but immediately things got strange. Or rather, weird. Perhaps weird _and _strange.__  
  
He was in a bed at Hope’s Peak Academy. Not a bed at New Hope’s Peak Academy, but the actual Hope’s Peak building. Everything was exactly how it had looked almost five whole years ago. As he got off of the bed, he immediately tripped, having not hit the ground when he thought he was supposed to.  
Was this… some sort of dream?  
  
Makoto walked over to the window, stumbling as his body struggled with a seeming disconnect. The window overlooked the track, just like it did back in high school, but no one was there, not that he could see anyway. Where was this? When was this?  
  
Suddenly, Makoto heard a knock on the door. A feminine voice called out, but he couldn’t make out the words.  
  
“-to! Ma-to!” A few more knocks. “Makoto?”  
  
Of course! It was Kyoko! No one else called him by his first name except for Komaru. Surely Kyoko was on the other side of the door. Once he opened it and met up with her, she could explain what was happening.  
  
Even in his dreams, Kyoko was usually the one who brought sense into his world.  
  
As he opened the door, he encountered what had to be the most frightening thing he had ever experienced in his entire life. And Makoto’s life had set a high bar.  
  
“Makoto! You’re finally awake! You know it’s 2 PM, right? Is there a clock in your room?”  
  
No.  
  
“Makoto?” she started to whisper “Sweetheart? Are you all right?”  
  
Yes. No. Is he all right? He must not be, if he was seeing something this strange.  
  
“Ummm… Makoto…? Why are you all quiet? I’ve never seen you like this before…”  
  
Sayaka Maizono, in the flesh, carrying a container of what appeared to be soup. If he blinked he could see her covered in blood, but the next moment she was smiling.  
  
As she took a confident step forward, Makoto took a tentative step back. Her legs were perfectly straight, an even distance apart as if at a show. His legs were about to give out underneath him. Her hands, fingertips perfectly manicured, closed and locked the door. His hands, fingertips uneven with bite marks, were stuck in a clenched motion, as if rigor mortis was already in affect in spite of his ability to breathe.  
  
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”  
  
Makoto Naegi screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is my first time writing a fanfic in almost ten years, and the dog shit I wrote at 13 years old probably shouldn’t count, so for all intents and purposes, this is my first fic. Whether or not I’ll be able to actually finish it is debatable... but we’ll see. I'll try! I appreciate any constructive criticism you can give. Thanks!


	2. Past the Point of Terrifying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto stops fighting this whimsical world, and neither he nor Tsumiki have any Success Cards.

When Makoto woke, he came to his senses with a bit more grace than he had the last time he woke up to this bizarre situation. At least this time there weren’t any dead people walking around. Out the window, the sun was beginning to set, dying the sky a more familiar colour. Although Makoto would be the first person to state that this red and that red were a literal world apart.  
  
Whereas before there was an urge to wake up as fast as physically possible, Makoto now savored the feeling of staying in the hospital bed without thinking about things too hard.  
  
Hospital bed?  
  
Oh. Makoto was in a hospital bed.  
  
His arms were tucked over the covers, which were tucked in to the bed’s side rather than loosely hanging over. Whoever had put him here wasn’t around anymore, the infirmary was completely empty. It looked exactly as it had before the tragedy, however, there were a few oddities that caught his attention. A sign with Usami’s face on it, saying “Don’t hesitate to tell the nurses what’s wrong!” and another that read “Remember to refill your subscriptions on time!” The last one had what appeared to be Monokuma, saying “Don’t use protection! STD’s bring spice to high school romance!” over what appeared to be a box of free condoms.  
  
Appearing at Hope’s Peak Academy and seeing Maizono alive had made Makoto think, if only for a single moment, that he had travelled back in time.  
  
But after seeing _that _, he could be rest assured that this was just some sort of crazy dream or hallucination. Not only could he no longer see this world as real, a part of him was too confused to even take it seriously. Makoto found he could no longer worry about the strange. And it’s fortunate Makoto reconsidered his mind set, since what happened next would have sent him in to catatonia otherwise.__  
  
The door to the infirmary opened slightly and closed, and upon looking down, he saw a small green… thing was walking towards him. The size of the hospital bed utterly dwarfed this green walking object, and Makoto watched in confused silence as it grabbed on to the legs of the bed and pulled itself upward.  
  
With Makoto still lying in bed, the strange being could walk on his chest and look down upon him despite his diminutive size. Now getting a better look at it, Makoto realized it was, in a very slight way, familiar.  
  
“HOW-ARE-YOU-DOING-YOU-BASTARD? WILL-YOU-BE-NEEDING-SURGERY?”  
  
The robotic voice didn’t match, and neither did his size or shape. But the eye and verbal tic gave it away. This was…  
  
“Monokuma?”  
  
“DID-YOU-NEED-SOMETHING-FROM-FATHER?”  
  
First a younger sister, now a son? How many AI relatives did that bear have? Makoto was confused, but not afraid. Something about the nature of this situation was so odd that it had long passed being terrifying and wandered into the world of comical. Makoto sat up, causing Monokuma’s son to lose his balance on Makoto’s chest and roll down his body. The mechanical squawking as he rolled, while slightly disturbing, was not unexpected. Monokuma could shriek, so why couldn’t his son? It made sense in a way, if you could forget that nothing about any of this made sense.  
  
Makoto reached over and picked up the green robot. He was smaller than Naegi expected, being easily carried in both hands. Unlike Monokuma himself, who came up all the way to his waist, this thing would probably only reach his knee, at best.  
  
Just as he was about to interrogate the bear, the door slid open again, this time all the way. As Makoto looked over, he locked eyes with someone a million times more welcome than the two he had met so far.  
  
“M-M-M-Mono-d-dam! Stop that! S-Stop that at once!” Mikan Tsumiki had entered the room, prepared to be a professional for once, but all those plans had stopped dead in their tracks upon seeing Monodam harassing her patient. She ran straight towards the bed and yanked the robot out of Makoto’s hands.  
  
“Umm. Ummmmm. W-What do I do now? What now?” Monodam seemed slightly distressed at being manhandled by a panicking nurse. Makoto watched her freak out for almost a minute, before she finally decided to open the window, drop him down, and close it again.  
  
“Phew… There. Now he won’t come in here again. Sorry about that, um, Naegi, right? Monodam keeps coming in here and offering sick students his um, surgery. D-Don’t accept his offer though! You’ll just get even worse! I-I can’t just lock the door though, b-because that’s unsafe. S-So, I have no option but to deal with him myself! I’m sorry if he accosted you…”  
  
Makoto couldn’t help but be amazed by Tsumiki. It’s like she hadn’t changed a bit since the last time the two of them spoke. She was even wearing the same outfit.  
“S-So, umm, now that you’re awake, I need to check your vitals.” As Tsumiki rode down the panic from her encounter with Monodam, she took a deep breath. “I’m going to check your heart beat, please give me your left wrist.”  
  
Makoto wordlessly gave her his wrist, and she squeezed, tight enough that his heartbeat started ringing in his own ears as well as hers.  
  
B’dump. B’dump. B’dump. B’dump.  
  
This was probably the most surreal experience Makoto had ever had. He was back in Hope’s Peak Academy, having seen a dead woman walking, the son(?) of Monokuma and was now getting his heartbeat checked by a woman he hadn’t seen in over two years.  
  
B’dump.        B’dump. B’dump.  
  
Do hearts… beat, in dreams? Makoto was having the sinking feeling that they weren't supposed to.  
  
B’dump. B’dump. B’dump. B’dump. B’dump.  
  
Makoto was starting to conclude that this may not be a dream after all. No dream he had ever experienced included so much detail. Never before had he heard his own breathing in a dream, never had he felt the sweat on the back of his neck in a dream, and lastly, he had certainly had never heard his own heart in a dream.  
  
B’dump. B’dump. B’dump. B’dump. B’dump.  
  
He had felt like this once before, though. Felt his senses heighten, had thought it a dream. Had been absolutely desperate to think it was a dream. That day, all those years ago, when he discovered Maizono’s body in his shower room, he remembered feeling this way.  
  
“And done. You had a single palpitation, that is your heart skipped a beat. Afterwards, your heart beat got significantly faster. This isn’t strange with those who have panic attacks, which seem to be the reason you fainted earlier. D-Do you have a history of fainting?”  
  
Makoto had certainly fainted quite a bit during the killing game. His knees went weak every time they encountered a body, and he had been knocked unconscious from panic twice or three times. He didn’t know if that counted though, so he said,  
  
“Y-Yeah. I have, but I’ve always woken up and been fine afterwards.”  
  
Tsumiki looked pensive, before getting up and writing a note.  
  
“If you say that it isn’t a problem, then I won’t suggest getting a prescription or anything. For now at least. This note will excuse you from gym, you’re going to come here instead and get looked at." Tsumiki's voice then raised a decibel or two in pitch, "I-Is that fine?”  
  
Tsumiki dropped her professional curtesy as soon as she realized she had directly told someone what to do. Her nervous and expecting expression practically begging for validation.  
“Of course, Tsumiki. I’ll… see you tomorrow, I guess?”  
  
If tomorrow ever comes, Makoto still isn't entirely sure it will. With a relieved Tsumiki’s help, Makoto escaped the hospital bed and walked him over to his room. However, as soon as she left, Makoto steeled his resolve and left as well, marching to the room next to his.  
  
Now that he had accepted (accepted?) the situation he was in, he had to pay Maizono a visit. The last time he had seen her, he had been terrified, and the time before that had been in an hallucination, and the time before that, she had been dead.  
  
Makoto supposed that as long as he was here, spending time with Maizono was _probably _a good way to spend his time. He liked looking at the bright side of things, and sure, this world may be weird and make no sense, but at least here, Maizono was still alive.__  
  
And if nothing else, that would always be a good thing.  
  
He knocked on the door, and after a few minutes, it opened to Sayaka Maizono’s tentative-turned-beaming face, and she immediately tackled him in a fierce hug.  
  
“Makoto! You’re alright!”  
  
Makoto, not expecting this at all, nearly buckled under her weight, until Maizono quickly stepped in to balance them both. As Maizono stepped back, so too did Makoto, until the two of them were an arm’s length away from each other, just standing in the hallway.  
  
“Makoto! I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you woke up! How are you? Are you feeling better?”  
  
Hearing Maizono speak for the first time in nearly five years almost brought tears to Makoto’s eyes. It was like taking a breath of fresh hair for the first time since her death. She was animated, breathing in way so controlled that you could tell she was conscious of it, her cheeks had colour and definition, no longer pallor like he remembered.  
  
When she was alive, Makoto used to think she glowed because she was an idol. Now, that glow is just the healthy glow of any living, breathing human being.  
  
“I’m doing fine now, thanks.”  
  
“Well, I was about to go to bed, Makoto. I’ll come wake you up, tomorrow…” Sayaka leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “sweetheart.”  
  
Sweetheart. (Sweetheart?)  
  
Now that Makoto is thinking about it, she called him that before too.  
  
And she was using his first name now. She… hadn’t done that before, had she?  
  
Sayaka gave him one last smile before going back to bed. On a second look, it appeared she had been in her pajamas, which would explain her hurry to go back to sleep. Makoto had told Tsumiki he was going to go to bed himself, but he felt like there was no way he was going to get to sleep in this dream (dream?) world. This world where the dead came back to life and called him by his first name. This world that _looks _like Hope’s Peak.__  
  
He started to wander around the hallways, not entirely sure where to begin his exploration of the school, now that the entire building is free all at once.  
  
Eventually, Makoto spots the stairway. And starts to climb.  
  
And climb.  
  
And climb.  
  
Once he reaches the top, he realizes that the roof’s door is open. The sun has long set now, and on the roof, someone was sitting with their legs dangled off the side.  
  
It was impossible to fully make out his features from the back, but Makoto could see purple hair, white clothes and a small form. Makoto is frankly surprised there are Hope's Peak students he doesn't recognize. The boy, who looked far too young to be in high school, was fiddling with a strange contraption. The device looked like a simple machine, just a small tank and a hose coming out of it. But the liquid inside the tank wasn’t water. It was far too yellow for that.  
  
Makoto gave the boy the benefit of the doubt on that one.  
  
“Excuse me, what are you doing?” he asked hesitantly, not wanting to surprise someone so close to the edge of a building.  
  
The boy turned around far too carelessly considering where he was. He gave a smirk-like grin and a blithe laugh.  
  
“Ooh, I wasn’t expecting to get caught! Think you can keep this a secret?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My narration feels a little strange. Limited-third person isn't anything new, but it feels almost like Not-limited third person. I guess I still need more practice in nailing things like that down. If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it.


	3. Jocular Resignation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pranks, like lies, have both a set-up and a punchline. Coincidentally, meeting the Ultimate Detective turned out the same way.

Now that this boy had turned around, Makoto could observe him in greater detail. As the atmosphere went silent, his expression changed from one of amusement to one of curiosity, and the two of them spent a brief moment observing each other before the boy spoke once again,  
  
“Wow-y, short stuff. You know this isn’t a middle school, right?”  
  
Makoto took a step back at this… insult? Misconception? It wasn’t the first time someone had mistaken him for a middle schooler, but for one, he was _at _a high school, and for two, this guy looked even younger than he did!__  
  
“I’m a high-schooler, actually.” Best to assume it was a misconception, “And don't you look more like a middle-schooler than I do?”  
  
“Well, that makes sense. I _am _12 years old, after all.”__  
  
This boy, who was apparently a child after all, put his hands behind his neck and laughed. Makoto had met quite a few crazy Ultimates in his day, so he guessed that one of them being abnormally young was only a matter of time. He looked young, so if he said he was 12, then Makoto figured he must be telling the truth.  
  
“Kidding!” Wait, what? “That was a lie, I’m actually 16!”  
  
Or maybe not.  
  
Makoto was pretty confused about that. Why lie about your age and then admit you lied not thirty seconds later? Makoto decided to continue taking him at face-value though. Sometimes when you met a weird Ultimate, it was best to just smile and nod.  
  
“I am Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader! And don’t worry, I’m telling the truth this time!”  
  
Makoto, deciding not to let Oma’s odd behaviour get to him, decided to introduce himself as well.  
  
“I’m Makoto Naegi, The Ultimate… Lucky Student. It’s nice to meet you, Oma.”  
  
“It’s nice to meet you too, _Makoto _~!”__  
  
Deciding not to mention the use of his given name, Makoto asked once again about what he was doing on the roof. Kokichi skipped back over to his machine and grabbed the spout to show to Makoto.  
  
“In five minutes or so, three of my classmates are going to walk out to go train or look at the stars or whatever it is the three of them do when they leave the dorms at 10 o’clock every night. They always leave from this entrance, too, which makes it really easy to prank them! I had the Ultimate Inventor build me this machine, and look she even made me a realistic dildo to attach to the nozzle!”  
  
Makoto could see that there was indeed a dildo attached to the spout. He could no longer give Oma the benefit of the doubt.  
“That liquid isn’t… real. Right?”  
  
“Of course, it is!”  
  
Makoto’s face twisted into righteous disgust, but before he could get a word in, Oma once again proclaimed,  
  
“Kidding! That was a lie too! You sure are gullible, Makoto!” he went over and removed the lid, causing an almost pungent apple smell to waft around. He smiled and continued,  
  
“This isn’t just apple juice, I’ve also put in extra apples, apple soap, and apple perfume, all warmed up to 30 degrees C. The moment they think the disgusting has happened, they’ll smell apples and realize what _actually _happened. Pranks are just like jokes, they need a set up and a punchline!" Oma shrugged his shoulders with a smirk, "You can’t just be an asshole and call that a prank. Too many people don’t realize that.”__  
  
Well, as disgusting as it was, it wasn’t as disgusting as it could be. Still, Makoto wasn’t sure if he could let this menace get away with this. There may be a 'set up and punchline', but that didn’t stop this trick from being mean-spirited.  
  
“Well, what if they _don’t _realize it’s apple juice? What then?”__  
  
“Oh they’ll realize it, don’t worry! One of them is the Ultimate Detective, so there’s no doubt in my mind!”  
  
What.  
  
What did he just say?  
  
Makoto was willing to let people get away with a lot of crap. Some might even call him a pushover. But there was no way he was willing to let ANYONE get away with dumping ANYTHING on his wife, especially not anything that could be misconstrued as urine.  
  
With Makoto having gone as quiet as a mouse, Oma put the spout down, and walked over to him, and that’s when Makoto ran past him. He grabbed the still open container and dumped the entire contents out of the machine and off the roof.  
  
On a second consideration, this wasn’t Makoto’s brightest moment. Luckily, it splashed harmlessly against the ground without hitting anyone. Unluckily for Makoto, he now had to deal with Oma’s whining.  
  
“Awwwww… What did you do that for, huh?!” He looked up at Makoto, an admittedly rare occurrence, and pouted at him, “Now all my hard work is ruined…”  
  
The two of them watched as the aforementioned trio all walked out of the building. A girl with long pigtails reaching all to the way to the floor, a boy dressed head to toe in all black, and a tall guy wearing a loose purple jacket who managed to slip and fall in the soapy mixture, causing Oma to laugh beside him.  
  
“Well, at least Kaito tripped over your mess! I guess I can consider this a happy ending!” Oma slapped Makoto’s back. While normally a gesture of friendship, Makoto was pretty sure it had everything to do with freaking him out and making him think he was going to fall off the roof. Oma started to collect his things, and as he was getting ready to leave, Makoto realized something.  
  
“Wait a minute… Kyoko wasn’t a part of the group you said you were going to prank! Was that a lie too?!”  
  
“Uhh… who’s Kyoko?”  
  
“The Ultimate Detective, obviously!”  
  
Oma looked down and pointed at two of the students, who seemed to be halfway through some sit ups. The last guy wasn’t there, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that he was changing out of his damp clothes. Oma pointed at the girl first,  
  
“That’s Maki Harukawa, the Ultimate… Child Caregiver. And beside her is Shuichi Saihara, the Utimate Detective.”  
  
“That has to be a lie. Kyoko Kirigiri is the Ultimate Detective.”  
  
“Look, Makoto," Oma drawled, "I have no idea who that is.” He then gathered up the rest of his prank supplies and just as he left, called out, “Make sure to be off the roof before 11:00. Otherwise Usami will come and bug you! Bye bye~!”  
  
Makoto was so focused on the idea that this… Shuichi Saihara person had replaced Kyoko that the mention of Usami rolled right past him. Makoto could only focus on one impossible idea at a time. As he looked down upon the supposed “Ultimate Detective” again, he saw their friend meet up with them and also start to work out.  
  
Makoto then had an excellent idea.  
  
Oma was probably lying about the Ultimate Detective thing, so if he just went down there and _asked _what their talents were, he’d know for sure!__  
  
As Makoto walked down, he thought about the appearance of these new Ultimate Students. It was pretty odd that he didn’t remember any of these guys from before the tragedy. Were they part of the third year class, along with Ando, Izayoi and Kimura? He doesn’t remember that class very well, but a talent like Ultimate Supreme Leader would definitely stand out.  
  
What was a Supreme Leader anyway? Good leaders probably shouldn’t lie all the time, although thinking back, telling a good lie is definitely an important trait for someone who leads a lot of people. Not that any of the lies Kokichi spouted out just now were 'good'.  
  
Makoto made his way through the entranceway, walking around the giant mess he made. The positive part of him figured that a bunch of soap on the ground would help clean up the dirt, but the more realistic side of him countered that the overpowering smell of apple would probably attract a mountain of bugs. Kokichi may have gone too far on that front.  
  
As he got closer, he walked in to quite the sight. The woman, Oma called her Harukawa, was currently doing pull-ups on a tree branch, while Saihara struggled with sit-ups and the last guy did nothing but lay down and close his eyes, looking for all the world like he was about to start napping.  
  
It reminded Makoto of workouts with Oogami and Asahina, the three of them each at different levels of strength. He supposed that’s just what happens when three Ultimates all decide to work out together.  
  
“Momota, stop slacking.” Harukawa’s voice was cold, like a knife piercing through the air. “If he’s asleep, I’ll kick that asshole awake. Skipping out on training isn’t allowed.”  
  
“I’m awake!” He sat up as soon as the word “kick” was uttered, not that Makoto could blame him. If her pull ups were anything to go by, a kick from the Ultimate Child Caregiver would hurt.  
  
Maybe she’s the fierce Mama Bear type?  
  
Giggling softly at the antics of his friends was the man Makoto wanted to see. The Ultimate Not-Detective. As he stepped forward, he softly cleared his throat to get their attention, the same way he used to get the attention of Future Foundation members, polite but authoritative.  
  
“I’m looking for… Shiuchi Saihara. You’re him, right?”  
  
Saihara got up, dusting blades of grass from his back and legs, before putting his hand out to Makoto’s.  
  
“Yes, that's me. I'm... the Ultimate Detective. Is there anything you need?”  
  
Kokichi wasn’t lying.  
  
Forgetting his manners, Makoto doesn’t even bother to return the handshake or even the greeting. Just a quick “thank you, that’s all” and he’s running back to the dorms.  
  
There’s still one place he can check to make sure Kyoko is still all right.  
  
As he makes his way to the dorms, he doesn’t head to her room right away, instead checking the nameplate on every door, just in case this world put it in a strange place.  
  
And, right when he got to her door, he realized he didn’t need to worry, and was greeted by her face portrait. He immediately knocked on the door, forgetting the time entirely.  
  
When the door opened, Makoto got what he expected, and yet it was still surprising to see. Kyoko, like Maizono and Tsumiki before her, also looked many years younger, but unlike Tsumiki and Maizono, whom he hadn’t seen in years, comparing this Kyoko to the one from yesterday was like night and day.  
  
Kyoko had always been taller than him, but whereas yesterday the difference was enough to be noticeable upon first meeting, now there were little more than a few centimeters between them. In fact everything about her was smaller. Her hair was in the braid that the Future Foundation made her take out years ago, and she was wearing light touches of makeup, something she had completely abandoned after the tragedy.  
  
But what was most different was the way she carried herself. Yesterday she was graceful, but warm, able to articulate the way she felt with nothing more than a glance or quiet smile. Today, she is cold and cautious, hardening her features to not let a single thought escape. Yesterday, she was poised but relaxed, today she is guarded but composed. Yesterday she didn’t have gloves on. Today she did.  
  
Despite all that, Makoto _still _thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Perhaps he was a little more biased than he originally thought.__  
  
“Naegi? Why are you knocking on my door at this hour?”  
  
Why _was _he knocking on her door at this hour? Upon seeing her, he almost forgot.__  
  
“Oh, sorry Ky-irgri, I was… worried about you?”  
  
“Why were you worried about me? With a question mark, I might add.” She stared straight into his eyes, looking at him with a critical eye.  
  
Makoto needs to learn to think before he acts.  
  
“Well, I had a… nightmare! About you! So I decided to check on you.”  
  
“And yet, from the look of you, I’d say you hadn’t gone to bed yet.”  
  
It seems he still has a ways to go on the ‘thinking before acting’ thing.  
  
“I decided to change before coming here! I didn’t want to scare you by showing up in the middle of the night with my pajamas on!”  
  
A single beat passed between them.  
  
“Why do you smell like apples?”  
  
It appears Kokichi was correct about Ultimate Detectives picking up on that. Makoto stepped farther away from Kyoko’s door out of self consciousness.  
  
“The smell is… kind of a long story.”  
  
Kyoko gave him a scrutinizing look, one that states she didn’t buy a single word of anything he had said in the past two minutes. Just as Makoto was going to make an excuse to run away, she said,  
  
“Maizono told us all you were sick, and fainted earlier. Is this true?”  
  
“Um, y-yes. Yes, it is.”  
  
“I see. You should take better care of yourself. Good night, Naegi.”  
  
Before Naegi could even respond, she closed her door, the sound of the lock ringing in his ears.  
  
Makoto went back to his room, resigned, and was about to go to bed when he realized he still smelled like apples. After a brief debate with himself over whether or not the water would work at nighttime, he decided he simply didn’t care. His stench would be something for future Makoto to worry about.  
  
As he climbed into bed, he began wondering whether or not he’d wake up here or back in his own world.  
  
As he heard the sound of his heartbeat, he found himself already knowing the answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who care about details, Makoto and Kokichi weren’t on the very top roof of Hope’s Peak, but the roof of the dormitory. This is also where Maki, Kaito and Shuichi left from, and also one of the few roofs that don’t have a secondary roof underneath it. I thought explaining it in the story would be way too much unneeded detail, but in case any of you saw it as a plot hole, that’s how that worked. Not that Hope’s Peak Academy’s architecture made any sense to begin with. I mean come on, a pool on the second floor, above a gymnasium? How did THAT make any sense?


	4. Determined

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another Side, Another Story. Or in other words, time for something completely different.

Chiaki Nanami knew today was the day. This was the _one _. She could feel it.__  
  
The last 14 times had been the _one _too, but no one had to know that.__  
  
She finished up her student council meeting -although calling it a student council when there are only two members was probably a misnomer- and rushed over to greet Hinata at the reserve course. Oma, her friend and technically the Student Council Vice-President, also wished to end the meeting early. She could only guess he had plans as well. The two of them each had their own ways of finding answers.  
  
She wouldn't mind working together with him, but he was loathe to play co-op. He asked her questions and formed his own strategies. Working with someone like that is... difficult.  
  
She was only halfway to the Reserve Course building when she ran into her target. Hajime Hinata carried himself with a sort of forceful politeness. His posture was always ramrod straight, and his hands were clenched in tight fists. His stance would tell you that he's a assertive, maybe even authoritative, but his expression said the exact opposite. A sheepish smile and a relaxed gaze were what made so many of her classmates able to confide in him. He had changed out of the Reserve Course's bland uniform and changed into something more casual. She used to think it was to help him feel like less of an outcast, but then she realized that since coming to this world she had never seen a single classmate of hers in uniform, ever. Like all traces of those ugly brown blazers had ceased to exist.  
  
Which was probably for the best.  
  
“Nanami, there you are. You were taking longer than usual, so I decided to head over.” He sheepishly crossed his arms, “I guess I was worried for nothing.”  
  
“Thanks for worrying, though.” Before Hinata could carry on their usual small talk, Chiaki turned around, gesturing for him to follow and started walking back to Hope’s Peak. Normally she didn’t mind small talk, not with Hinata at least, but small talk couldn’t be had when she was on a mission. Instead she huffed out a quiet but excited "Mission Start~" and marched along, as Hinata sped up to keep pace with her.  
  
"You're really pumped today, huh? You don't even have a portable in hand." This was true, she did not. However this wasn't because she was taking things more seriously today, but because she had forgotten to buy more batteries for her portables. However, the fortunate side effect of this otherwise tragedy was that she _was _more focused than usual. A little.__  
  
There were inconsistencies within this world. Errors in continuity. Despite that, errors were never so incongruous as to break all logic. It’s common in game worlds. Like when an NPC walks off screen and teleports to their destination, or when you glitch so far off the map you end up in another copy of the game. Things you’ll never notice the first time through. _This _world is the same way. There are hint of things don’t make sense, which the world then tries to correct by making sure you don’t notice them.__  
  
Her first year here, she was confused to find out that Monomi and Usami weren’t the same bunny anymore. It took her an entire year of testing to notice that Usami’s existence would not and could not be acknowledged by Monokuma, the Monokubs or even Monomi herself. If any of them were around, Usami simply wouldn’t show up, as if the world mapped her movements so they’d never run into each other.  
  
Photos, words, even stealing Usami’s wand and giving it to Monomi hadn’t done anything. The students could acknowledge the existence of both Monomi and Usami, but they never realized they were one in the same. Even when Chiaki finally got Monomi to admit she was once ‘Magical Miracle Girl * Usami’, her classmates didn’t question it at all!  
  
In her second year she finally realized that she herself was a pile of contradictions too. She remembered Jabberwock Island as well as her time at Hope’s Peak, a logical inconsistency that made it difficult to think. Every time she remembered two memories that seemingly contradict each other it was like static burned in her head. She thinks she might even remember being a ghost. Or something. Everything was fuzzy.  
  
This world denied all logical inconsistencies. She was also dead. Maybe. Those were the two concrete rules she had discovered during her two years at this bizarre Hope’s Peak Academy.  
  
That doesn’t sound like a lot, but Chiaki was proud of her deductions.  
  
As the two of them arrived at the Hope’s Peak dorms, she caught Kirumi Tojo fiercely cleaning the entrance way. Tojo had an intimidating presence, like the character from a wacky bullet-hell shooter. And the way she cleaned that floor was something truly wicked to behold. As they walked by, the light, pleasant smell of apple in the air, Hinata finally broke the silence.  
  
“So, what today? Are you going to leave me alone in your room to play video game for ten minutes again?”  
  
Chiaki’s main goal this year -the last year before her graduation- was to break the world’s logic once and for all. In a game, breaking the logic in one place would reveal more inconsistencies in the code of another, until you knew the game so well you could manipulate it.  
  
But this world isn’t a game, so who knows what would happen? Maybe she’d finally learn the truth.  
  
“Yep. Thanks Hinata!”  
  
He looked pretty confused, it was a weird request after all. He trusted her, but… “This has to be the millionth time you’ve asked me to do this…”  
  
“It’s an experiment. Don’t leave, okay.” She smiles.  
  
She leaves before he has a chance to respond. It’s a little mean, but she knows he’s used to being treated this way, and she really doesn’t have a second to lose, since she doesn’t want her second target going anywhere.  
  
She’s going to go find Izuru and the two of them are going to meet. Hinata thinks he’s declined the offer to become Ultimate Hope, and Izuru thinks he was once a Reserve course student who became the Ultimate Hope after an experiment. But, they’ve never acknowledged the other’s existence in any way! It’s the same thing that happened with Monomi and Usami.  
  
Two years ago, she was content with just knowing they couldn’t acknowledge each other, but Chiaki had leveled up since then. She was sure she could force them to meet! Once that happened, she might finally learn the secret of this world. If what Nagito had confided to her was true, she needed to act fast. Otherwise, tragedy would just repeat itself. This world may be broken and illogical, but she did care for it a great deal. She had spent almost two years here, and she knew that if this world was real she definitely wanted to stay forever. However, those inconsistencies bothered her too much to be able to ignore them and stay here forever. Her previous world didn't have issues like that, and no matter how great this world was, it wasn't worth it if it was fake. Probably.  
  
She went straight to the dojo where Izuru spent most of his time. Since he wasn’t a real student, he never came to class, and nothing Chiaki could say or do could convince him to start. Luckily for her, though, Izuru always concedes on simple requests if you ask him enough times.  
  
So Chiaki’s been asking every day for him to come with her to her room.  
  
If this were a game, Izuru’s code would be something like “if Hajime is in room, deny all requests to go to the room”.  
  
But this world _isn’t _a game. Her classmates’ actions are dictated by their thoughts, of that she’s sure. Which means it’s possible to trick this world out of behaving like a game.__  
  
Probably.  
  
Knocking on the dojo’s door, she decided it was probably okay to enter without approval. There were about 5 pairs of shoes outside the dojo, meaning today was a busy day. Izuru liked to stay here because the dojo was often overlooked by the school's athletes in favour of being outside. She saw his shoes as well though, so he was definitely in there. Taking her own shoes off and stepping inside, she walked over to Izuru, who was having a conversation with Makoto Naegi. She knew who he was, but funnily enough she had never once spoken to him, in this world or her own. Things just never worked out that way.  
  
Once Makoto had left, clearly frustrated, she walked up to Izuru herself. Izuru Kamukura was an enigma she had never gotten to know in her previous life. She used to be scared of him, whenever she looked at him all she saw was the man willing to shoot a friend of hers. A year of conversations had brought them closer together, and she now no longer saw him that way. Whenever she looked at Izuru now, she instead saw two things. One, she saw Hinata, his face so clearly visible in Izuru's that it erased all doubt in her mind that he was created from a different student in this world, and she saw his cheeks. His cheeks never moved, whether speaking or breathing or gaming, those cheeks stayed still, giving him an impression of passive apathy no matter what he did.  
  
“Hey hey, Izuru. Want to play some games with me in my room?”  
  
Izuru looked at her without moving his head. She couldn't see his eyes directly because his long, inky hair was in the way, but she could still feel his gaze. She had no idea if he could see her as well, or if he was using his other acute senses to communicate with her. After a moment of silence, he stood up and walked towards her.  
  
“Very well.”  
  
Chiaki tried to hide her excitement, but she couldn’t help but break out into a huge smile. She didn’t want to give Izuru any indication that someone else was there, just in case he decided not to come, but the idea that the two of them could finally meet was making her pump her fists in anticipation. Unluckily for her on that front, Izuru already saw through her.  
  
“You want me to come into this room to meet a friend of yours, correct? Boring.”  
  
“Awww, you found out, huh…” Chiaki puffed out her cheeks. Well, Izuru was still heading to her room, so it wasn't game over. She could make up for it with strategy.  
  
When Chiaki started to realize how close her plan was to working, she almost started to tremble. Hopefully Izuru would misconstrue it for excitement. He liked to think he knew everything, but he dismissed things so carelessly that he never realized the paradoxes in this world. That was enough for her to know he was human. Probably.  
  
Once she got to her room, Izuru stopped a polite two steps away from her door. Whether that was courteousness or just to give her space to unlock it herself was unknown. The latter, probably. Upon realizing that Izuru wouldn’t be able to see all the way into her room upon her opening the door, she handed Izuru the key instead. It was now or never.  
  
“Here, I think you should open it.”  
  
For the second time in her life, Chiaki saw Izuru with a look of mild surprise. It wasn’t a drastic change to his facial features. Just the same tiny shine in his eyes as the time Komaeda’s luck surpassed his. Was her decision to have him open the door instead of herself really such a monumental surprise to him? She spposed that there was no logical reason for her to hand him the key to her own room. Except for this exact situation, that is.  
  
Izuru wordlessly took the key from her hand and opened the door. As soon as he did, the world…  
  
Warped.  


\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
Hinata had left the room before she and Izuru showed up, so the three of them couldn’t play games together. Chiaki pouted, puffing up her cheeks, while Izuru wordlessly sat down and took the controller for her oldest console. Chiaki consistently performed better on older games, so she supposed he was taking the handicap today.  
  
Before she could start gaming, she had to write down her newest findings about the world. She always forgets important stuff while gaming, so she needs to write down what happened.  
  
‘Attempt 15 - Managed to get Izuru and Hinata almost to the same room, but Hinata left before world break could occur.’  
  
Hmmmm.  
  
Is there something she’s forgetting?  
  
Izuru hands her a controller.  
  
Probably not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woops, I dropped the script and when I picked it up we had a different main character. How did that happen?  
> In all seriousness, next chapter we'll be back to Makoto. We'll switch POVs a few times across the story though.


End file.
